blitzkrieg machines

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After decades in counterculture, Surf & Skate culture are a true industry nowadays.
A few brands got out of this game and settled in undeniable high quality surf regions. As our South West region, where after a start in Biarritz in the late 50's, spots have been continuously discovered all along the coast in the 60's.... as the now famous beach-break in Hossegor or Seignosse in "les Landes".
A very "West Coast" way of life naturely established there as numerous Americans and Australians exiles settled there.

Phil, like many others, came to live here, working for the brand "Element Skateboards".

He is as well a fan of motorbike and a certain custom culture, to the point that he created his own club: "Blitzkrieg machines". His bike comes directly from USA, it's a little TR5 Triumph bobber extremely simple though very well designed.

We have taken a few shots behind the dune of the famous local spot.

Phil is organizing the first meeting of his club next saturday evening at the Cream Café, and a ride earlier in the afternoon

As he warns:
"Just to set the record straight, we are gathering on may 7th in order to meet people who share the same intrest in vintage choppers, cafe racers, rock'n roll, punk rock, garage, 50's and 60's culture, and so on. If you wanna rock up with your brand new bike, expect to win some kinda prize, and don't share the same intrests, you might get bored and consider skipping this one. We just wanna share some drinks with cool people..."

Histoire de clarifier les chose, nous nous rassemblons le 7 mai pour rencontrer des gens qui partagent un même intérêt pour les choppers vintages, café racers, le rock'n roll, punk rock, garage, la culture 50's et 60's entre autres. Si vous vous pointez avec votre bécane neuve et espérez gagner des prix, vous vous trompez d'endroit et pourriez vous enmerder toute l' après midi. On veut juste boire un coup avec des gens cools qui partagent des intérêts communs.

See you on Saturday with your horse!

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Reader ride. Really Great BSA Custom From Dogtown Cycles!

Man oh man! These old Japanese and British Hardtails are really starting to grow on me.

Love the article in the Spanish mag - my bike is top of the page!!!  The only thing I could translate was "addictive blog" - it is!  My go to site while having coffee in the morning....  Keep up the good work.   Cheers!

My pleasure! Keep up the great builds!

Mark Woodhatch art

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Our south West region of France: Gascogne, shelters thousands of english citizens usually settled in the countryside for climate and sweet life style. Mark left his Surrey village West Clandon not far from Portsmouth and settled down in Lectoure, Gers, homeland of Armagnac.


Mark: "Thanks very much Vincent for inviting me to appear on your blog full of my favorite things! As you might already have guessed, my paintings reflect my passion for motor cycles and cars. The 70’s was for me a most influential period, growing up amidst a growing Custom car and bike scene in England, the fashion, music, my pocket money all went on Custom Car and Chopper magazines (I still have them!)"

My first set of wheels was a Lambretta TV175 during the first scooter revival and runs to Brighton with my mates, to go sea fishing rather than to do battle with the rockers. My brother rode a Triumph Tiger Cub and a 1950 BSA A10 rigid frame and side-car, he wrote the side car off when he hit a runaway horse, and the bike suffered a few bruises when he clobbered a granny crossing the road! He still has the BSA now undergoing its third restoration! He’s also just finished a 1939 Norton International, all done in his garden shed. He was always rebuilding something unusual in the garage. One day when he’d just finished restoring an early Alvis prototype, an old boy stopped by in a ‘Brooklands’ Bentley and asked if he wanted to do a straight swop, he declined, a decision I suspect he now regrets.

We were surrounded by automotive activity of one sort or another. Team Maclaren were down the road working out of a small workshop, and Ken Tyrell owner of the F1 team lived up in the village; all his old racing cars were stacked up against the garage wall, including the one with four front wheels! James Hunt was racing with a small team based in a farm building next door. The remains of the Brooklands race track were a cycle ride away, so we were surrounded by racing history and history in the making!
In those days the nearest I got to the art world was a few weeks in a sign writing shop and 2 years studying typographic design, but I had other plans. I did a building apprenticeship before heading off to France to fulfill a long term ambition that involved wearing a Kepi in hot and sunny climates! For several years cars and motorcycles took second place to an alternative lifestyle. Later I returned to England but discontent and still harboring the travel bug, I took my van back across the channel loaded up with my Harley chopper and other essentials.





Seduced by the South-West I bought a big old house and embarked on eight years of renovation, anyone thinking of doing the same my advice is don’t! During this period I was also working in overseas, and it was only when the renovation task was finally complete and constant air travel had lost its appeal did I begin to paint.


I turned my back on the expat routine at about the time I met Charlotte Massip, a superb print maker and one of France’s unsung artist heroes, one day France’s loss will be London and New York’s gain. With her encouragement things progressed coupled with the influence of the great impressionists, Matisse, Cezanne, also Spanish artist Antonio Lopez amongst others.




I often travel to California, amazed by the variety of architecture framed by seemingly endless and un-spoilt open spaces, and it remains one of the great places to visit for anyone in love with the vintage lifestyle! My artwork is a humble tribute to those that designed and built back in the day, be it architectural or mechanical, but equally to those that continue to build and rebuild today, all those restorers of old buildings, cars, bikes and anything else of timeless design and taste.


At the moment I am importing from the US a Panhead chopper and a Knucklehead motor. Benny at Bone Shaker Choppers (near Birmingham in the uk) is building the Sportster bobber, and that should all be up and running early next year. Benny and I have also discussed plans for the Knuck engine, but thats going to be a longterm project built form period parts as they become available.


The Ford coupe is being built by my friend Robert in L.A. He is a great guy, very passionate about hot rods and his car created alot of excitement amongst the hot rodding fraternity when it was unveiled a couple of years ago. It should be finished by next summer, but Roberts a perfectionist and the car will be 100 percent period perfect, so he won't be rushed into completing the build. The coupe will run a 49 Cadillac motor with a 36-speed Lasalle box, a future Southsiders feature perhaps?



My intention one day is to buy a little place in California, somewhere along the central coast, and enjoy running around in the coupe for say three or four months of the year, and generally soaking up the atmosphere and painting at the sametime! I don't plan on bringing the coupe back to Europe, but sometimes things change so we'll see about that later. I have made a couple of good friends out there, they are complete petrol heads and like Robert are perfectionists in the art of restoring classic cars, I'll gladly put you in touch with them next time you're out that way...

Mark will accept commission work, and can be contacted through his website: www.markwoodhatchart.com

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Reader Submittal. A really Great Home Grown Honda Bobber!

I saw the pics of the finished bike over on ADV Rider and knew there had to be a good story behind such a cool build. So I pm'd the owner to see if he's be interested in sharing a few details and I was not disappointed!. Thank You John! There's a lot of personal touches and one-off parts in this one. It's obvious that you've put some time into it. Thanks Again!

John Writes in:

Hey Steve,
I would be happy to share some info on the bobber I posted on advrider.  It started out as a 1974 CB750 which was hardtailed and tranformed into the bike you saw.  I have been working on it for 2 years it is almost done. I just need to finish dialing in the carbs.  It has been a pain since I use straight pipes and a open air intake.  Everything on the bike that is custom I built.  I do my own powder coating, except for frames since my oven is not that big.  I tryed to go with a minimalistic, clean, old school approach.  I am happy you like it.  If you have any other questions or want to see any other pics (I have a ton) let me know.
John

Here's the Before and Build pics. That's quite a save!

Another Briggs and Stratton Bobber from... Bob.

The build sheet:

Specifications For Black Briggs Bobber
Frame---------------------------Probably nos aftermarket hardtail from the 60s
Wheelbase---------------------58 in.
Rims-----------------------------18 x 2.15
Tires-----------------------------18 x 4
Hubs-----------------------------Honda 350
Brakes--------------------------Drum
Swept Area--------------------56.5 sq. in.
Brakes Loaded----------------8.8 lbs. per sq. in.
Curb Weight-------------------300 lbs. / 200 lb. rider - 500lbs.
Fork-----------------------------Homemade
Rake----------------------------25 degrees
Trail-----------------------------3 in.
Suspension--------------------Leaf spring over leading rocker
Floorboards-------------------24 in. Wide and 8 in. clearance
Lean----------------------------35 degrees
Ground Clearance-----------6 in.
Axle to Ground---------------13 in.
Crankshaft to Ground-------11.75 in.
Handlebars--------------------Lowrise buckhorns 31 in. wide with 5 in. rise on 3.5 in. dogbone risers
Grips---------------------------Anderson style
Engine-------------------------V twin ohv Briggs and Stratton
Displacement-----------------34.75 cu. in. / 570 cu. cent.
Bore----------------------------2.83
Stroke--------------------------2.76
HP------------------------------18 @ 3600 rpm
Torque-------------------------30 ft. lbs. @ 2400 rpm
Exhaust------------------------two into one header 1.75 in. auto
Drive Train--------------------comet ind torque converter
Drive Clutch-------------------44 c magnum
TQ Overall Ratio-------------2.43 to 1
Final Drive---------------------428 chain sprockets/ 15t into 60t for 4 to 1 ratio
Speed--------------------------70 mph @ 3600 rpm
Frame Geometry-------------Cloned from Indian 101 Scout
Steering Geometry-----------Cloned from Indian 101 Scout

Update: Radical Custom Guzzi.

Damm that's different! Maybe not for everyone but I like it. Found this over on ADV Rider with no other significant info.

Update: Well here you go then. More info about the bike and builder!  Thanks to all of you who e-mailed and commented with the info.

http://www.wheelsmagazine.se/nyheter/article563501.ece

LOL UPDATE: Reader Ride. The Lilac Alley Speed Shop Honda Hardtail SL125! Very Trick Budget build.

UPDATE... Helping to provide a public service here at MPOTD:
From the comments: 
Anonymous said...

I love the bike but my bedroom overlooks Lilac Alley and would love it more if you didn't race up and down the alley late at night and let it idle in the alley.sorry to be a pain but my bike sets off car alarms as well but I try and do that on other peoples streets...

Dan Noyola sends in this wicked little custom build. Did some hunting and found his blog!  Go HERE  for his blog build pics!  Now don't be shy about sending me links to yor blogs and slideshows fand such!  I love these kinds of builds. This once again proves that imagination and creativity are more important than money. What a cool bike.

Dan Writes:
It was put together in a couple of weeks for a few hundred dollars for the Dirtbag Challenge.
My ladyfriend still rides it regularly.

Dirtbag Challenge sounds like a blast. Thanks again!

Reader Ride. Nice Bobber from dogtown Cycles.

Update 3: Wicked Little 2-Stroke Yamaha Tracker-Bobber

Moving this to the top for a bit since so many folks had questions about it.

Update 3:  Found the build thread!  An alert reader over on ADV rider found the build thread on this bike. A lot of folks have been asking for more info so here you go!

http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=12857.0


From the comments (Thanks SakeRacer).  More info Here: http://www.pipeburn.com/home/2010/9/9/1973-yamaha-rd250-street-tracker.html

Sorry to Pipeburn. I didn't realize it originated on their site. TONS of great stuff over there so check them out often.

My observant commentors make some good points about the classification of this bike. Tracker of Bobber? I see a lot of elements of both styles here and to be honest I'm not crazy about pigeon holing bikes all that much so lets call it a tracker-bobber. Whatever you call it it's still freaking cool!

That's got backroad fun written all over it.

Reader Ride. Outstnding Triumph Bobber.

Lee Thiessen from Canada send in the gorgeous Triumph Bobber.  That a stunner.  Hits just the right notes.
 Thank You Lee!

Reader Ride. A Badass 1978 Honda Hawk 400T Bobber. Yes. You Read That Correctly....

If you've followed this blog for a while you'll know that I just love builds like this.  Ted Brecheisen sends in more proof that you don't need big bucks to build a fantastic bike.   I used to own a stocker as a kid.  Never imagined it could look like this!

Ted Writes:

Great blog site. Love your two stroll one also. Have 2 excellent RD350's (stockers)
Here are a couple of pics of a 78' Honda Hawk 400t the we did over the winter. It was a throw away we retrieved and started chopping. It's low budget but cam out pretty good. The swing arm has be extended 4" to get a little more wheelbase. The front old Goodyear DT dirt track tire was the start of the inspiration to head to the dirt track look. Tank is a 88 Yamaha Virago 250, license plate bracket is two 5hp Briggs connecting rods. Handle bars awe from a Yamaha ATV. Rides great and has good handling manners. Cheap fun!


Thanks,


Ted Brecheisen
ted@marketshareplus.com

Awesome Ted. Thanks! And if you get a chance I'd love to see those RD350's! Always in the hunt for good 2-stroke pics for the other site!